On a rotting log, in the deep shade of the forest, something small and white sits among the moss. The powdery puffball is pear-shaped, white, and covered in small, soft warts. It looks like a tiny marshmallow that has been left out in the rain. Two to four centimetres tall. Soft to the touch. Almost cute, for a fungus. When mature, the top opens and releases a puff of brown spores when raindrops hit it. That is the strategy. Rain provides the energy for dispersal. Each drop knocks a cloud of spores into the air, carried away by the wind to colonise new logs. Edible when young and white inside. The flesh should be firm and white, like a marshmallow. If the inside has started to turn yellow or brown, it is too old. Slice it and fry it in butter. Mild flavour. Soft texture. Nothing special, but not bad. It grows on soil and rotting wood in forests and gardens. Common throughout New Zealand. Not rare. Not threatened. The Maori name is not recorded. Another small fungus, overlooked by the people who came before, noticed only by those who walk the forest floor with their eyes down. The warts on the surface are the remnants of the outer layer, a universal veil that protected the developing fungus. As it expands, the veil tears, leaving the warts behind. That is the powdery puffball. Small, white, warty. A mushroom that puffs its spores into the rain, hoping for the best.